Mortification
by y-in-flame
Summary: Tenten was sick of training so hard and getting nothing out of it. So what happens when she confronts Neji about it? Her saying the wrong thing at what could probably be called the wrong time.


Tenten watched with annoyance as Neji spun around in the clearing, sending all her weapons spinning into the ground and nearby trees. A few came flying her way, but she deflected them using the kunai in her hand. She crouched on her branch, waiting for the right moment to spring forward.

She had seen him do this move so many times, it was almost easy for her to see where he was slowing down. Her muscles tensed, and she crouched even tighter. After a few more seconds, she saw more detail past the still spinning chakra and she flew out of her tree and spun through Neji's chakra, slashing it with her kunai and landing on top of him.

She opened her eyes to see him underneath her, staring up at her with a mixture of confusion and anger.

"What are you doing?"

She was straddling him, with her hands beside his shoulders, one still holding her kunai. She lifted it shakily and held it near his throat.

"J-just listen to me Neji. I know that you can throw me off right now without exerting much effort, but just don't talk."

She breathed in deeply, thinking through her long speech about how she was sick of training with him because he was the only one getting anything out of these sessions, and how she wanted a break now and then and how she was never going to make it to jounin level because he wasn't helping at all. Just as she opened her mouth to yell the words straight to his ears, she opened her eyes as well and gazed directly into his. What blurted out was completely unplanned and she was mortified.

"I love you so much, Neji, it's unfair."

There was silence in the clearing as Tenten felt her face heat up. Neji was expressionless as he looked up at her. Just as she started to hyperventilate, the solution came to her and she quickly performed the transportation jutsu.

The last thing she saw was Neji's eyes as they finally showed some emotion, one she couldn't recognise as she fled to her home.

* * *

She holed up there for three days. There had been a number of trying minutes almost every hour when someone had knocked on her front door. Assuming it was Neji, she dove for cover in a small cramped room full of seals in the back of her wardrobe. She was sure the seals would permit her to stay hidden; Hinata had told her so. The only problem was, the seals were expensive and she couldn't cover her whole room with them.

She sighed, annoyed with her cramped space at the present time. She was just about to escape her boxlike prison when she heard the telltale creak of her stairwell. She froze.

"Tenten?"

Tenten swore under her breath. It was Neji. And he was slowly walking up her stairs leading to the bathroom, and worst of all, her bedroom. She curled even more around herself, glad that she had kept up her daily hygiene. She had heard all those stories about how people holed up in their houses and smelt badly at the end of it. Not gonna be her, no way. She shook her head and jumped when she heard her bedroom door open.

Clasping her hands together and eyes squeezed shut, she prayed that he wouldn't find her.

"I know you're here. I can sense you."

She swore silently. She'd forgotten about that. Suddenly she saw a sliver of light come through the crack between the floor and the door to her hiding place and she held her breath. Slowly, with an ominous creak, the door in front of her opened. She could tell that she probably looked like deer in headlights, but she couldn't change it. She was so scared of his reaction.

"Oh! H-hey Neji! What are you doing here?"

She tried to act nonchalant, like hiding in a small cupboard was something that happened to her every day, but failed miserably. He wasn't convinced or amused.

"I'm here because you've been avoiding me. Nobody has seen you for the past three days and it's time for you to stop hiding every time I try to visit you."

She gulped and tried to fold in on herself, but it wasn't working. What was worse, Neji had grabbed her wrist and forcibly dragged her out of her hidey-hole. She growled and tried to grab the door to her wardrobe but he was too quick and had her out on her floor before she could stop him. She glared at him from the floor for a few seconds before trying to make a run for it. She didn't succeed, and ended up having him sit on her to stop her squirming.

"Tenten! Stop moving!"

"NEVER!"

He managed to capture one of her wrists and pin it beside her head. When she realised that she was three quarters pinned to the floor she struggled even harder. He had a tougher time getting her other hand but he finally succeeded. She was breathing harder than when he first pulled her out and was currently glaring at the wall to resist looking at him. He leaned around to look at her but she strained her head away. He sighed.

"Look, Tenten, the only reason I came here was to find out what you were going to say. I didn't hear it."

She whipped her head around so fast she almost clipped his chin.

"You didn't hear?"

He shook his head.

"No."

She blew her breath out in a big rush of air.

"Oh, good."

Neji eyed her with slight confusion but shook his head, getting up off her with ease. He reached down and pulled her up beside him. Tenten quickly dusted herself off and led the way downstairs to her front door.

"What I was _going_ to say was that I was annoyed that all the training we did seemed to help you more than me. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to help with your training, but I wouldn't mind focusing a little bit more on my skills to improve myself."

She turned around at the landing and looked at him carefully. To her surprise he was calm about it. He nodded.

"That's reasonable. We'll meet tomorrow morning, same time, for practice."

She nodded, and walked to the door and held it open for him. Just as he was about to leave, he bent over, whispered something in her ear and kissed her cheek. He left with a smirk on his face as Tenten stood on her doorstep with an uncomfortable heat in her face and ears.

"I love you too, Tenten. No need to be embarrassed."


End file.
